Strategy
Joint Ventures and Consortiums: Winning a Share of Vision 2030 Giga-Projects
21 July 2026 · 8 min read · By NextBid Bid Experts · Updated 16 October 2026
The Kingdom’s giga-projects are too big and too complex for a single company to deliver alone. For many firms, one practical way to win a share is through a joint venture or consortium. Here is how teaming works and how to position for it.
The Kingdom’s giga-projects - NEOM, the Red Sea, Diriyah, Qiddiya, and the rest - are too big, too complex, and too demanding for a single company to deliver alone. That is an opportunity: for many firms, one practical way to win a share is through a joint venture or consortium. Here is how teaming works and how to position for it.
Why giga-projects favour teams
A multi-year, multi-discipline giga-project package can demand engineering, construction, technology, logistics, and specialist capabilities at once - plus the financial capacity and track record to back them. Few companies have all of that. Buyers know it, and the government procurement system allows joint bidding by a formal team of companies (called solidarity, التضامن, in the Implementing Regulations and tender documents), so the right combination of partners can present a single, credible offer. Giga-project developers such as NEOM run their own supplier registration and invite suppliers to tender, so check each buyer's rules.
JV vs consortium - the practical difference
In a joint venture, partners form a shared structure to deliver the work together, either a new company or a contractual arrangement. In a consortium or coalition, companies stay separate but bid jointly under an agreement that defines each party’s scope, share, and responsibilities. Either way, you present capabilities and references that none of you has alone, although under the current Implementing Regulations, unless the solidarity procedures require otherwise, each member must still meet the qualification criteria in the tender documents. You nominate a lead partner who fronts the bid as the legal representative before the entity, but under the current Implementing Regulations every member stays jointly or severally responsible for executing all the works.
What a strong teaming setup needs
- A clear scope split - who does what, with no gaps and no overlaps the buyer can question.
- A lead partner with the standing and capacity to carry the bid and the contract.
- Defined responsibilities and liability between partners, set out in a written consortium agreement before you bid. Under the current Implementing Regulations the agreement is certified by the Chamber of Commerce or an authorised notarising entity (or, if it is not yet signed, a letter of undertaking is filed with the bid), and towards the entity each member can be held responsible, with the others or alone, for all the works.
- Complementary, not competing, capabilities - the team should add up to more than its parts.
- A combined local-content and Saudization position, because government tenders can score local content and ask for a certificate of meeting the required Saudization ratio.
Find the right partners - and the right packages - early
Teaming starts long before the tender. Companies that want a share of giga-project work should identify the packages suited to their strengths early and build partner relationships ahead of time, so when a package comes to market the team is ready rather than scrambled together at the deadline. Early visibility of upcoming packages is what makes deliberate teaming possible.
On a giga-project, the question to ask is not "can we do all of this?" but "who do we do this with?" Answer it before the tender opens.
Frequently asked questions
Can companies bid together on Saudi government tenders?
Yes. Government tenders allow joint bidding by a formal team of companies, called solidarity (التضامن), where the tender booklet permits it and the conditions in the current Implementing Regulations are met. The new law, which takes effect in early January 2027, keeps joint bidding and leaves the details to its new Implementing Regulations.
What is the difference between a JV and a consortium?
A JV usually means a shared delivery structure, either a new company or a contractual arrangement; a consortium keeps companies separate but bidding jointly under an agreement. In a government tender either is submitted as a joint bid (solidarity): a leader represents the team before the entity, and under the current Implementing Regulations every member stays jointly or severally responsible for all the works.
Why do giga-projects need teaming?
Because their packages demand a breadth of capability, capacity, and references few single firms have.
How do I prepare to team up?
Identify the packages that fit your strengths, build partner relationships early, and agree scope, shares, and responsibilities in writing before the tender, not at the deadline; for a government tender, under the current Implementing Regulations, the agreement is certified by the Chamber of Commerce or an authorised notarising entity before the bid, or a letter of undertaking is filed with the bid.
If you cannot carry a whole package alone, the path into the giga-projects is not doing everything - it is doing your part, with the right partners, on the right package. Position early and team deliberately, so you are ready when a package that suits you comes to market. Joint bids bring paperwork of their own: pre-qualification packs, bid bond requests and signatures across the partners. Our bid management team coordinates these and takes the bid through to final submission.